Archive for November, 2006

Non-Fiction Writer

700 Days in El Salvador is Michele’s first book, published by Coretext in May 2006. This memoir is written with earthiness and humour. It is a personal journey: through life and death, love, longing and belonging and the shattering of innocence. In describing the author’s involvement in El Salvador during the 1980s and 90s, it is an insider’s account of political struggle, war and its aftermath. The book does not focus on the bombs and massacres but rather the personal human stories about the way people respond to war, their fear, resilience and hope. It also questions just how much we will put on the line for those we love and when it’s time to walk away.

Michele is a Melbourne based freelance writer whose feature articles have been published regularly in Eureka Street magazine since 2001 and also appear in the daily newspapers The Courier Mail (Brisbane), The Age (Melbourne) and The Australian (throughout Australia). She is an experienced public speaker who is booked regularly in Melbourne and Brisbane.

To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of this extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide us.

A word of mouth phenomenon since its first publication, The Power of Now is one of those rare books with the power to create an experience in readers, one that can radically change their lives for the better.This book is also available in hardcover and on CD (audiobook)

A radical call for major and profound change in the Australian Catholic Church, as well as a direct challenge to the conservatism epitomised by the Archdiocese of Sydney Cardinal George Pell.

Comment
Father Ted Kennedy describes himself as “a sample of that endangered species – an Australian Catholic priest”. He is that, but he is more and even rarer. For what speaks to the reader in this book is the authentic, singular voice of prophecy, a voice seldom heard in the Australian Church. – Professor Tony Coady

This tapestry of personal story and social analysis is a candid self-disclosure of a quest for ethical clarity and creative political alternatives, integrated with a credible spirituality forged amid recurring personal crises involving divorce, cancer and depression. Noel Preston is an ethicist who has pursued a varied career in the roles of academic, minister of religion, social justice advocate, media commentator and political adviser. He writes from a vantage of challenging social boundaries of Queensland society through the sixties, the controversial Bjelke-Peterson years and the aftermath of the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

… a unique, deeply personal, scholarly insight into the significant events of a fascinating era and (the author’s) own growth as these events unfolded. (Tony Fitzgerald AC, QC)

… (its) profound engagement with questions of life, death and spirituality, both personal and in the wider world, invite a fascinating parallel journey for the reader. (Rev Dorothy McRae-McMahon)

… a combination of an honest and humble account of a life well lived, warts and all, a political history of turbulent times in Queensland and a spiritual journey, moving from preacher, to activist, to academic and ethicist, to a believer in and practitioner of “eco-spirituality”. (Di McGrath-Fingleton, Magistrate)

… an Australian story of social responsibility … seen and experienced from a talented insider who, thankfully, never got lucky enough to win the confidence of any political party. (Dr John Uhr, ANU)

… Noel Preston has been a champion for the underdog. This memoir is a testament to this. (Jackie Huggins AM, Aboriginal author).

This page within St Mary’s web promotes books that have been part of the lives of members of the community. Some of the works have been written by those who worshsip at St Mary’s, others have been launched at the Church and many are the works that inspire and enthuse those who call St Mary’s their spiritual home.

So, what have you read that inspired or challenged you? We invite you to contribute to this page with your reviews and images.